NASHVILLE

Again, our nation is confronted with a school shooting. This time it touched my hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. I was just there last week visiting with loved ones. It breaks my heart to know more students and families will go to bed tonight aware their beloved did not return home from school today. Nashville, the nation was robbed of three (3) children and three (3) staffers lives and now they have transitioned in the most heinous ways possible. A culmination of legislation, social unrest, and political disenfranchisement over the past thirty (30) years has placed this country in a position where mass shootings are commonplace. They are occurring in extreme poverty and affluent communities, suburbia, small rural, and large urban areas. After such incidents happen, our local and national media outlets present graphics of shock and awe within moments. We are at a standstill for approximately two (2) days of coverage. Gun activist groups craft statements, politicians on both sides of the aisle make media appearance, and sadly we hear more of the same. It is not my intention to paint a bleak picture, but these are truths. Our current political practices yield poor outcomes. There are barriers to overcome when addressing gun violence. Interest groups, lobbyists, and judicial activism carry the heaviest of influence. Gun violence has an exorbitant sociopsychological toll on communities. It is time for us to dismantle a system, a psychology which elevates the gun and reduces human life. We have to stop mincing words and speak directly to the point. We ought to have a sense of extreme urgency, a sense of care and greater concern when it comes to school shootings. It is time for love to last and loom larger. There is a path to peace. We must fully embody a peace movement in this country! It finds station in litigation, negotiation, and conflict management. We have tolerated indifference and stagnation for far too long. We can no longer lose sight of the underlying interest which is preservation of humanity. No longer can we oversimplify and underestimate issues surrounding gun violence. Local, state, and national pressure has to pile up on each school board member, mayor, city councilmember, alderman, board of director, governor and state legislator, and presidential administration and federal legislator. This must come to a head. We must institute a climactic day to address the matter and leaders must be forced to act. There must be national progressive change. The change must reach down and into our consciousness. We must lay a new foundation to reduce violence in America. There must blow new political winds and pressure. We must adopt a new political philosophy that prevents gun violence from going forward; for the future expects us to act today. I ask that you please keep the Metropolitan Nashville community in your heart and mind as we experience another national tragedy. Sincerely, Dr. Quintessa Hathaway Former Democratic Nominee 118th Congress (2023-2025) United States House Of Representatives Arkansas' Second District (AR-02)

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